Hi all
I had the good fortune yesterday to watch a Black Falcon up very
close, feeding on a road-killed bandicoot, in the gravel at the side of
the Arnhem Highway near Humpty Doo, a couple of dozen k's from
Darwin. I watched for about 10 mins or so from the other side of the
road, and was pleasantly surprised that despite being right beside
the bitumen, with lots of traffic and some very large trucks whizzing
by, it didn't flush. The only time I saw it move was when it held one
foot on its prey and used the other foot as a 'paddle' to move itself
backwards, perhaps a metre further from the bitumen. Getting a full
frame view in the binoculars, one of the most impressive things was
seeing how massive its bill was, something not readily appreciated
in views of the bird in flight. I hadn't thought about it previously but if
this bird was typical, Black Falcon could easily be separated from
dark Brown Falcons on the size of the bill alone...
Another interesting feeding observation a little later when I watched
a Great Egret swallow a quite large python at a nearby lagoon. It
took quite a bit of manouevring, but eventually it managed, with the
snake going down head first! The last bit of tail stayed protruding
for a while, wriggling around and making the Egret look like it was
"licking its chops".
Happy Birding
Birding-Aus is on the Web at
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